Department for Work and Pensions

Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) Annual Plan 2015-16 and Strategy 2015-2020

Baroness Altmann: My honourable Friend The Minister for Disabled People (Justin Tomlinson) has made the following Written Statement. Later today I will lay copies of the Office for Nuclear Regulation’s Annual Plan for 2015-16 and the Office for Nuclear Regulation’s Strategy 2015-20 before this House, both are Un-Numbered Act Papers.   Having consulted the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change who is accountable for civil nuclear security and the Office for Nuclear Regulation, I can confirm, in accordance with Schedule 7, Section 25(3) of the Energy Act 2013, that there have been no exclusions to either of the published documents on the grounds of national security. 


This statement has also been made in the House of Commons: 
HCWS106

Ministry of Defence

Publication of the Submarine Dismantling Project Public Consultation Initial Report

Earl Howe: My hon. Friend the Minister of State for Defence Procurement (Mr Philip Dunne) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.On 16 October 2014 I announced that the Ministry of Defence (MOD)’s Submarine Dismantling Project (SDP) public consultation process would take place between 14 November 2014 and end on 20 February 2015. Today I can announce, with the conclusion of that process, an initial report from the Public Consultation is being published online. Five sites were shortlisted to house an Interim Store for Intermediate Level radioactive Waste (ILW) removed from 27 nuclear submarines that have been, or will be, decommissioned. The interim store will have the capacity to hold all this ILW until it is transferred to a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) some time after 2040. The Public Consultation sought views about the sites that had been shortlisted and how people felt about the site near them being chosen. The report draws together all the views and collates them under themes to provide a clear and accurate consensus of the opinions raised by site and subject. This initial report contains only views from the public and no response from MOD as yet, this will come in a later report. It has been published today on the Government website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/submarine-dismantling-project-site-for-the-interim-storage-of-intermediate-level-radioactive-waste Moving forward, assessment continues, taking into account the Public Consultation findings and information that has been requested and gathered from the sites themselves. The five shortlisted sites are: AWE Aldermaston in Berkshire; AWE Burghfield in Berkshire; Capenhurst in Cheshire; Chapelcross in Dumfriesshire and Sellafield in Cumbria.A final decision about which site will house the Interim Store will be made in 2016.A copy of the report has been placed in the Library of the House.

Inquest into the deaths of Corporal James Dunsby, Lance Corporal Craig Roberts and Lance Corporal Edward Maher

Earl Howe: My hon. Friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Penny Mordaunt) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. On 13 July 2013, Army Reservists Corporal James Dunsby, Lance Corporal Craig Roberts and Lance Corporal Edward Maher were among 37 Reserve soldiers taking part in an individual navigation exercise on the Brecon Beacons. Tragically, Lance Corporal Maher and Lance Corporal Roberts died while taking part in the exercise and Corporal James Dunsby was evacuated and died in hospital on 30 July 2013. An inquest into the circumstances of these tragic deaths heard evidence from 1-26 June 2015, and HM Senior Coroner for the City of Birmingham and the Borough of Solihull yesterday returned a narrative conclusion. The coroner has identified failings in the running of the exercise and has indicated that she will make a number of recommendations to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in order to prevent future deaths. I would like to apologise on behalf of the MOD and the Armed Forces for the deaths of Corporal Dunsby, Lance Corporal Roberts and Lance Corporal Maher. We would also like to offer our sincere condolences to their families and friends who have shown great dignity during what has been a very difficult period. We accept the failings identified by the coroner and are truly sorry. In response to our own and the Health and Safety Executive’s investigations we have made a number of changes to the way this exercise and similar exercises are conducted. These changes include improvements to the preparatory training that Reserves undertake and a thorough review of the risk assessment process to ensure that all those involved have been trained in the effective management of risks. A new tracker system has been implemented to improve monitoring of individual candidates and to enable two-way communications between directing staff and candidates. We are looking at how this can be further improved. We continually review our code of practice for the prevention and initial medical treatment of climatic injuries in the Armed Forces in order to minimise the risk of such tragic events. We will continue to work hard to ensure the code of practice is understood and followed. Over the next few days the coroner will issue her Report to Prevent Future Deaths to the MOD. We will treat her recommendations with the utmost seriousness. We will ensure everything possible is being done to reduce the risk to personnel who undertake these types of exercise and to try to prevent a reoccurrence of these terrible events. The MOD will have 56 days to provide our formal response, a copy of which I will place in the Library of the House. As soon as civil investigations are complete we will initiate our own Service Inquiry to see where further lessons can be identified and improvements made. The Royal Military Police will also consider whether any non-criminal service offences appear to have been committed. The Reserves continue to form an important part of military capability, whether on operations or at home. We will continue to ensure that the Reserves have the necessary training, skills and fitness levels to do the tasks required of them.It will always be necessary to train and test our military personnel to the highest possible level so that they can meet the challenges to national security that we face both in the UK and overseas. Achieving this end does involve individuals having to push themselves and take some risk. However, as an organisation we must ensure that this is balanced with the need to ensure these risks are effectively mitigated. In this case, we did not do this and we accept full responsibility for these tragic deaths. We are determined to learn the lessons. I am the Minister who will be responsible for taking any corrective action forward. I will be writing to the families personally and will make myself available to meet them if they wish, and to facilitate any requests they might have.